Why not have more universities? - University of Sheffield · “ Why universities and colleges should only be at Oxford and Cambridge I know no reason. It would be more advantageous

EDUCATION

DAVID WILLETTS

A UNIVERSITY

February 2018

DAVID WILLETTS A UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

First there was Oxford and then Cambridge


Number of universities in European Countries (1300-1790)

0

5

10

15

20

25

Italy France Spain Scotland England

1300

1378

1500

1790


“ Why universities and colleges should only be at Oxford and Cambridge I know no reason. It would be more advantageous to the good of all the

people, to have Universities or Colleges, one at least in every great town or city in the nation as in London, York, Bristow, Exceter, Norwich and the

like; and for the State to allow to these Colledges an honest and competent maintenance for some godly and learned men to teach the Tongues and

Arts, under a due reformation.”

William Dell, Puritan master of Caius College, Cambridge speaking to the Westminster Assembly of Divines. 1643

Why not have more universities?


What is excellence and what is producer power?

“The privileges of graduates in arts, in law, physick and divinity, when they can be obtained only by residing a certain number of years in certain universities, necessarily force a certain number of students to such universities, independent of the merit or reputation of the teachers.”

Adam Smith


Government Legislation on Universities: A case study

• 1854 The Oxford University Act• 1856 The Cambridge University Act• 1857 Oxford University Act 1857• Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act 1859• Oxford University Act 1860• Oxford University Act 1862• Oxford University Vinerian Foundation Act 1865• Universities Tests Act 1871• 1877 Universities of Oxford and Cambridge Act• 1880 Universities of Oxford and Cambridge (Limited

Tenures) Act


Challenging the Edusceptics –the benefits of higher education


How to pay for it?


Median Wages: post-graduates, graduates, and non-graduates 2016

Aged 16-64 Median salary

Non-graduates £22,500

Graduates £32,000

Postgraduates £38,000

Aged 21-30 Median salary

Non-graduates £19,000

Graduates £25,000

Postgraduates £29,000


Marx was right.

“If…higher education institutions are also “free”, that only means in fact defraying the cost of education of the bourgeoisie from the general tax receipts.”

Karl Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme 1875.


So was Robbins

• "I have little doubt that, as time goes on and the advantages of higher education are more generally perceived, and the burdens of financing its expansion are more severely felt, there may easily come a change in attitudes such that the equitable arguments for a considerable replacement of grants by loans will become practically relevant."


Four reasons for the current system

• The Principle – it is progressive

• The Economics – investing in human capital

• The Challenge – tackled under-funding of higher education and cutting public spending

• The Opportunity – End of number controls


“Why don’t we have price competition?”

• Income contingent repayment

• Competition for student numbers is a powerful incentive

• No good criterion for price differentiation


Ranking universities (1 of 2)

University of Oxford University of LeedsUniversity of Cambridge University of BirminghamUniversity of Durham University of SouthamptonUniversity of St Andrews Cardiff UniversityUniversity of Bristol University of East AngliaUniversity of Exeter University of LiverpoolImperial College University of StrathclydeUniversity of Edinburgh Heriot-Watt UniversityUniversity of Warwick King's College LondonUniversity of York Oxford Brookes UniversityUniversity of Sheffield University of Surrey


Ranking universities (2 of 2)

University of Dundee Edge Hill UniversityBournemouth University University of SalfordUniversity of Kent Brunel University London

University of Portsmouth Teesside UniversityNottingham Trent University University of HuddersfieldUniversity of Hull University of BedfordshireUniversity of Brighton London South Bank UniversityUniversity of Worcester London Metropolitan UniversityQueen Mary University of London University of East LondonUniversity of Lincoln University of WolverhamptonUniversity of Derby University of Bradford


A clue to the rankings


Percentage of first degree full time entrants from NS-SEC 4-7, 2014-15


“Good universities should charge more.”

But what makes a university “good”?

Graduates earn more because of

• Social background of parents

• Prior attainment of students

• Geographical location

Move up rankings also because of

• Research Excellence


“Students on high paying courses should pay more”

• Law, Economics and Management

• Medicine and STEM

• Arts and Humanities


Some bad ideas to change this system

• Differential fees – on what basis?

• Cut fees and cut resource

• A graduate tax – back to public spending

• Raise repayment threshold – is this the problem?

• Reallocate the “spending” to non-HE


Some better ideas to improve it

A regular five year review

• Maintenance grant - more cash for students

• More funding for part time students

• A pupil premium for disadvantaged students

• More funding for high cost courses – STEM

• The interest rate?


Innovation: The British Problem

• “many of our industries have since the outbreak of war suffered through our inability to produce at home certain articles and materials required in trade processes, the manufacture of which has become localised abroad, and particularly in Germany, because science there has been more thoroughly and effectively applied to the solution of scientific problems bearing on trade and industry…A great part of all research will necessarily be done in Universities and Colleges which are already aided by the State…” Scheme for the organisation and development of scientific and industrial research Cd 8005, July 1915. Paragraphs 1 and 5


Dual funding

• Low trust transactional Research Council funding (£2.7b)

• High trust patient substitute for endowment from HEFCE (£1.6b)

• But a gap – no high trust funding outside universities.


Types of R&D as % of GDP

United Kingdom France Germany United States

Total Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) 1.7 2.26 2.84 2.74

Business Sector R&D (BERD) 1.1 1.46 1.93 1.94

Higher Education R&D (HERD) 0.44 0.46 0.49 0.39

Government R&D (GovERD) 0.13 0.3 0.42 0.31


HE R&D % of Gross R&DCOUNTRY HERD%GERD

China (People's Republic of) 6.9

Korea 9.1

Japan 12.6

United States 14.2

Germany 17.3

France 20.6

Finland 22.9

United Kingdom 26.1

Sweden 29.0

Norway 31.1

Denmark 33.2


High on autonomy

Low on application

Good for the university rankings

Bad for Innovation

The British Model


Future Challenges

• Where: Brexit & Globalisation

• How: Technology

• What: The problems of specialisation


Where: Brexit & Globalisation• Student flows :post-study work and the MAC opportunity

• Taking fee loans abroad

• Staff flows

• Horizon 2020 and after

• A campus in the EU?


Education Technology today


Education Technology tomorrow

• Disintermediated or disintermediator?

• MOOCS v SPOCs. The 2U model for masters

• Data Analytics – No back row


What: A broader education

Percentages of girls and boys with GCSE A* doing that subject at A Level






EDUCATION

DAVID WILLETTS

A UNIVERSITY

February 2018

Documents

Why not have more universities? - University of Sheffield · “ Why universities and colleges should only be at Oxford and Cambridge I know no reason. It would be more advantageous